The Sunday News
Ngonidzashe Chiutsi Farming Correspondent
A LOCAL non-governmental organisation (NGO), Pro Africa, has set up 56 irrigation schemes and rehabilitated several dams in the drought-prone Matabeleland region in the last 14 years, a development which has transformed the lives of many rural farmers.In an interview soon after a tour of some of the dams and irrigation schemes last week, Pro Africa director Mr Velanjani Nkomo, said through funding from Liechtenstein Development Services (LED), they had managed to set up a number of irrigation schemes in Matabeleland region.
“Since Pro Africa was established in 2000 we have built 56 irrigation schemes, 51 are in Matabeleland South and five in Matabeleland North. These schemes range from some as small as one hectare,” he said.
“These irrigation schemes are community based meaning that community participation is vital in any of our work which we are doing. When we are setting up the irrigation, the community does the clearing of the sites, canal construction, pipe laying and Pro Africa just provide materials that cannot be found locally like fence, cement and pipes,” said Mr Nkomo.
“After that we obviously do training of the farmers on issues such as water conservation.”
He said they had rehabilitated a number of dams in the region.
“We also do dam rehabilitation. For an irrigation scheme to be well, there is a need for water. Most of these dams had silted over the years and their capacities had diminished and the only way out was to rehabilitate them and be able to catch more water and farmers will get more water to irrigate through the year,” he said.
This year alone, Mr Nkomo, said they had rehabilitated four dams in Matabeleland South.
He said the farmers were now managing to send their children to school and also to diversify their diet.
“Food security is one of the aspects we need to look into as a region and it’s only through irrigation that we can meet food security,” said Mr Nkomo.
LED executive secretary Mr Peter Ritter said the work by Pro-Africa Development was positively impacting on the lives of the people in Matabeleland region.
“Pro Africa is enabling the people to help themselves. The reconstruction of dams is very important and it is maybe not our main focus to build infrastructure but we can easily see that with the availability of water all other activities start. Where there is water there is potential for gardening and for other projects especially in region five where more than half the year, the agricultural activity is highly dependent on irrigation,” he said.
“The life of the beneficiaries is changing and one thing that I liked about the projects is sustainability. There are no white elephants on the ground and these projects have a duration of many years and even after Pro Africa phases out or reduces its intervention the projects will still go on,” said Mr Ritter.
Some of the beneficiaries of the dam rehabilitation project told Sunday Business that their lives had greatly transformed.
Some of the dams and irrigation schemes set up by Pro Africa include Lubombwe Dam in Gwanda and there is also an irrigation project being run there. The NGO has also set up Sizabantu irrigation project at Sizabantu dam located in Gwanda and Menebulamba Irrigation Project at Menebulamba Dam, located in the same area.
There is also Malalume irrigation project located in Bulilima District Ward 14.
The organisation has also set up Mankonkoni irrigation project and Madema irrigation scheme in Patana Village of Gwanda, 250km south of Bulawayo.
Libongwe Dam chairperson, Mrs Sibonile Gumbie, said the intervention by Pro Africa would assist communities to attain food security
“We are hopeful that when we complete rehabilitating this dam we will be able to do gardening throughout the year and our livestock will have enough water to drink,” said Mrs Gumbie
